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Show 13-t ATROCIOUS J GDGE • LA. D. 1GGO Common Pleas. Luckily for him, Ilampdeu's case luu11Jcen decided before his appoinhuent, and he wa not impeached hy the LonO' l)nrlian1ent. \Vhen the ciYil war Lroke out, he followecl t:e king; and afterwards a ·is ted in attempting to holll a Court of Common Pleas at Oxford, Lut . at alone, and his tribunal ,vas without advocates or suitors. An onlinance passed the Ilou~e of Commons for rctnoving hin1 from his office, and on account of his exec i ve j/;enl in the royal can .. e, he wa obliged to c01npound for hi· estate by paying a very large fi.ne. . After the king's death, he continneJ in r cLire1nent ttll the Re to ration. lie i saiJ to have hn.<l n srna1l clutn1ber in the Temple, and like Sir Orlando Bridgnutn and Sir J-effery Pelman, to have practi ·ed. as a cha.mber coun:-;cl, chiefly addicting himself to con veyanciog. The fir t act of the government of Charle. II. was to rein-state Foster in hi~ old office. There was a strong de, ire to re\vard his con tancy with fre h honor"; but he was thought unflt to be rai ·ed higher, and. the ofilce of chief jnsticc of the ICing's Bench could. not be satisfactorily filled up. Only six common la.w juugcs had Lccn appointed when the trials of the rerriciJes came on. Fo._Ler, being one of them, 0 di tingui"hed him elf for hi::; zeal; an<l when they were orer, all scrur)les as to his fitness lw.vinrr va.ni ·l1 ec1, he, who a few 0 n1onths before, shut up in Lis chamber that he 1nighL e cape ,, t1 · 1 o· better the notice of the Roundheads, never expectcu nny nt " than to receive a broad piece for pr~paring a conveyance ac· corclt·n O' to the recently 1· nvented ex pet1 1· 0nt o f' ''lea 'C and , < ~ 0 . . . . l · .lrrc in tl1C release," was con. t1tuted the lnghc:L cnnuna JUuo kingdom. lie pr sided in the Court of 1\ing'R T~cnch for two year~. A. D. 1GG~. J ltOBERT FOSTEI~. 13[) Being a d cp black let t r lawyer, he . ati:f'actorily <1ispo:)ed of the private cases whieh cm11e before him, although he was much perplexed by the itnproveJ rule· of practice introduced while he wa. in r eLircn1ent, and he w<.v di;-;posed to sneer ut the deci, ions of Chief tT ustice l~ollc, a 1n:1n in all respects much superior to hin1 'elf. In , tate p ro 'ecutions he showcJ him elf as intemperate and as urLitrary as any of the judg 'S who had been in11wached at the n1cetin<>" of the Lonrr Par- t:> 0 liament. To l1im chiefly is to be imputed the disgraceful execution as a traitor, of one who lwll disnpproYed of tltc late king's trial; who was included in the pre:-;('nt king\:; prmni. e of indemnity from Bretla; * in who.'e favor a petition hall been presented by the Convention Parlimnent; wlw wa ., suppose<l to be expre sly pardoned by the answer to that petition; t but who had incurred tbe in t>xLi11guishable hatred of the Cavaliers by the part he bad takc'n in bringing about the conviction of the Earl of Straffonl. Sir IIenry ·vane the younger, t after lying two )' ars in prison, duriug \Vhich the shao1e of putting hi1n to death was too strong to be oY rcOtne, wa. at la. t arraigned for high treason at the ICing's Bench oar. As ·:li Charles II., in his Decl(( rat ion from Brccltt, hrtd promised that he should "proceed only against the immediate murderer~ of his royal father." t In answer to the address of the two Houses of the Convention ParEament to spare the liYes of Vilnc and Lam.bert, the lorJ chancellor reported, ''His majesty g r:.mts the th:.,irc of the said petition;"- the ancient form of passing acts of Parliament. The Hltra C:.tvalier Hou e of Commons which followed desired Vane'~ death, uut could not alter tho Ltw or abrogate the royal promise. t In hi~ younger days, l~cfore the ciYil war, Sir Henry Vane had been among the early emigrants to Massachusetts, and as go\'ernor of that colony had borne a part in omc remarkable transactions there.- See Hildreth's Uistory qj' thf' Unitr•d StatC's, YOl. i. rl1. ix |
